Roy Moore is suing Sacha Baron Cohen

/2 The complaint is drafted and filed by Larry Klayman, omnipresent tinfoil connoisseur and legal-cryptid-hunter. Strike one. I mean please.
/3 Anyway, Moore is suing in United States District Court in DC for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress, or as it is more commonly known. Butthurt In The First Degree.
/4 Note: the District of Columbia has a local anti-SLAPP statute, the application of which in federal court is a matter of some confusion and turmoil.
/5 Moore complains that Cohen and his crew tricked Moore and his wife to come to DC to be on "Yerushalayim TV," which does not technically exist on this plane, to celebrate Israel's 70th anniversary. Cohen posed as Erran Morad, former Mossad agent.
/6 Of course, this was all a gag for Cohen's new show "Who is America?" Moore complains that Cohen and the show "falsely painted, portrayed, mocked and with malice defamed Judge Moore as a sex offender, which he is not." OH COME ON
/7 By adding "mocked" to that sentence, Klayman is beclowing himself, which is quite a feat for someone who comes pre-beclowned. He's basically saying "the utterly obvious and inevitable defense to this is correct, and here I am confirming it."
/8 Only something that can reasonably be taken as a provable statement of fact can be defamatory. Mockery is by definition not defamatory -- like ridicule, insult, etc. When a public figure is at hand, it's also not, by definition, intentional infliction of emotional distress
/9 Don't believe me? Send to Hell and ask Jerry Falwell, who lost his defamation/Butthurt claim against Hustler for a mocking ad portraying him as losing his virginity to his mother in an outhouse.
/10 What, exactly, did Cohen say to call Moore a sex offender in the episode? It's not clear. Moore doesn't specify each and every allegedly defamatory or hurty statement. Remember: vagueness in defamation claims is the hallmark of meritless thuggery.
/11 But he does specify one thing: apparently the gag included Cohen showing off a high-tech Mossad-created molester-detector, which starts to beep immediately when held near Moore. That's actually a pretty funny routine. But it ain't defamatory.
/12 It's not defamatory because it's not a provable statement of fact that "this is a genuine high-tech molester detector that is identifying Moore as a molester." The entire gag is that the audience knows, and Moore doesn't, that it's all a set-up. That's the POINT.
/13 The entire thing is a satirical take on the accusations and rumors that surrounded Moore during his election, like a circle of eager middle school girls around their queen bee. It's a riff on that claim. It's not a provable statement of fact that Moore's a molester.

Yeah, I'm not so sure about that.

/14 This is a silly, contemptible lawsuit by one silly, contemptible lawyer on behalf of another silly, contemptible lawyer. It demonstrates disdain for the legal process. It is not to be taken seriously, and ought to result in a swift defeat. BETTER WRITERS NOW /end

Also...

Oh, God, it's even worse - or more hysterical

Here's more outrageous video (don't know how long these may be available) of Spencer, who seems to think these things would actually work to thwart a terrorist:





(His Chinese includes Japanese - don't know if Cohen gave him a script or told him to ad-lib.)







Hope he gets a chance to try that stuff out for real.

Can't wait to see what Sarah Palin and Roy Moore did.  They're also suing.

We're squarely in Crazy Town now

In the latest episode of “Who Is America?,” [Sacha Baron Cohen] plays Israeli military expert Erran Morad, and enlists [Georgia] state Rep. Jason Spencer (R) to film an “anti-terrorism video.”

In the video, Spencer repeatedly shouts the “N-word” after Cohen tells him that using the “forbidden” word will help ward off terrorists.

In another clip, Spencer pulls down his pants and chases Cohen with his buttocks exposed, yelling “USA, Motherf—er!”

  The Hill

You have to see it to believe it:

Spencer also reportedly gives an offensive impression of a “Chinese tourist” in the episode, and stabs a knife into a mannequin wearing a hijab.

Spencer, who recently was defeated in the GOP primary after serving four terms, had threatened legal action against Showtime to prevent the network from airing the footage.

“They exploited my state of mind for profit and notoriety,” Spencer told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week. “This media company’s deceptive and fraudulent behavior is exactly why President Donald Trump was elected.”

Drain the swamp.

Sunday’s episode also featured former Vice President Dick Cheney signing a “waterboard kit.”

[...]

Cohen’s new undercover project has already featured a number of GOP figures, including several who were filmed purportedly endorsing a program to arm toddlers with guns.

I wonder how long the show will be allowed to run.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

Republicans defend tots with guns program

Unbelievable.

High-larious

In a bit for [a Showtime] series,[Sacha Baron] Cohen posed as a disabled military vet and interviewed [Sarah Palin]. In a lengthy Facebook post yesterday, Palin wrote, “We were duped. Ya got me, Sacha.” She also called him evil, exploitative and sick. “Out of respect for what I was led to believe would be a thoughtful discussion with someone who had served in uniform, I sat through a long ‘interview’ full of Hollywoodism’s [sic], disrespect and sarcasm – but finally had enough and literally, physically removed my mic and walked out, much to Cohen’s chagrin,” she wrote. “The disrespect of our U.S. military and middle-class Americans via Cohen’s foreign commentaries under the guise of interview questions was perverse.”

Today, Cohen’s character, Billy Wayne Ruddick, Jr. PhD, tweeted his own lengthy letter at Palin. In the missive, he identified himself as the founder, CEO and accountant of Truthbrary.org. “I did NOT say I was a War Vet,” he wrote. “I was in the service – not military, but United Parcel, and I only fought for my country once – when I shot a Mexican who came onto my property. (Coincidentaly [sic], just like our Great President, I was sadly prevented from joining the regular army on account of bone spurs bein [sic] discovered in my testies [sic]).”

He also kept the ruse going. “I do believe you have been hit by a bullshit grenade and are now bleedin’ FAKE NEWS,” he wrote. “You used to hunt the most dangerous animals in the country, like wolves and people on welfare. So why hunt a fine citizen journalist like myself? I DEMAND an APOLOGY.”

People reports that Palin exited the interview when “Ruddick” asked a question about what he believed to be a government-funded sex change for Chelsea Clinton. The magazine’s source alleged that Cohen was baiting Palin into espousing homophobia. In her public statement, Palin alleged that “Cohen/CBS/Showtime” deposited her and her daughter at the wrong Washington, D.C. airport after the interview “knowing that we’ll miss our flights back home to Alaska.” She added, “By the way, my daughter thinks you’re a piece of ****, Sacha.” The asterisks are hers.

The Guardian reports that the series will also reportedly feature interviews with Bernie Sanders and Dick Cheney.

  Sarah Palin

Also....Roy Moore:



Yeah, I don't think he's got a winnable case.  Unless he can appeal it far enough to get to Trump's Supreme Court.  And I think he'd have to get England to extradite Cohen.

Actually, it's a little frightening that these political "leaders" can be duped so easily. (I'm also looking at you, Diaper Don.)